


Solstitium, Interrupted

by Intronerd (PawneeEm)



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Aliens Made Them Do It, Angst and Humor, F/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:26:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26435635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PawneeEm/pseuds/Intronerd
Summary: “Why did you touch the sacred stone?”Jack did touch the stone, but in his defence, it looked neat. All round and glittery.He shrugged, “It’s who I am as a person.”
Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Carter/Jack O'Neill
Comments: 36
Kudos: 74





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Season 8 Carter in that black tank-top, beamed directly into Jack's office mid-run. But mostly because Lena asked for this to be written.

“You touched the sacred stone.“

One minute Jack was in a cave not far from the Stargate, poking at the cool rocky surface of the walls, while watching Daniel oohing and ahhing over some old carvings, and Carter collecting soil samples. 

Next, he was in a different cave, surrounded by lit candles and a smell he usually associated with taco Tuesday on base. Jack’s weapon was gone, and he was standing before a shirtless old guy with wrinkled purple skin.

Jack tried not to stare. But the guy looked completely normal, very human, except for the whole being purple thing.

“Why did you touch the sacred stone?” Purple guy asked again, his headpiece jiggled and a tiny bird flew out of it. _Whoa !_

Jack _did_ touch the stone, but in his defence, it looked neat. All round and glittery.

He knew better than to touch cool stuff on alien planets. But knowing better and doing better were two completely different matters.

Jack shrugged.

“It’s who I am as a person.”

"What is it that you desire, young O’Neill of the Tau'ri." Purple guy squinted. 

“Who are you?” Jack squinted back. “How do you know my name?”

The old wrinkly guy didn’t look all that trustworthy, but he did call Jack 'young'. _Cool_.

“I am G’ene. Shaman of the land of Buss’enji.”

“Gene of Bassenji? Come on!” Jack snorted. Shaman guy scowled.

"On the day of the sun standing still, for as many cycles as you necessitate, you shall be granted your heart desire by the sacred stone."

“What’s in it for you?”

“I require more wishes to bestow in order to surpass my brother. He is 8 wishes ahead.”

"Sibling rivalry, damn, buddy, good luck with that.” 

Jack sympathized. Gene inclined his head.

“Well, how about this for a wish, you beam me back to where my gun and my people are?" Jack didn't like being separated from the rest of SG1.

“This is not what your heart desires. Your true wish is what I require.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Men who seek the stone often wish for fortune, women, or a long healthy life."

Of course they do. Well, he might as well play along if it meant purple guy would send him back to the cave. 

But Jack didn't truly care for money. Lonely as it was, he only had himself to provide for. He owned his house in Colorado Springs, his cabin in Minnesota, his own flat screen TV, and a _The Simpsons_ DVD set. What else could a guy wish for?

A long life was out of the question. Jack balked at the idea of outliving the people he cared about. This one was a hard no.

Women? Jack snorted. 

Despite the cool ladies’ man vibe he put out there, Jack wasn't really the womanizing type, not anymore. He was too old for casual encounters. 

Also, there was the little awareness of a specific woman who had him rather preoccupied as of late. Specifically, ever since one blonde Doctor arrived in this reality, accompanied by Kawalsky, a few months ago, looking at him with familiar, albeit tearful eyes, touching him, kissing him.

There were no _women_. Just one woman, to whom he was apparently married in one alternative universe, and engaged in another. A woman he wasn't allowed to notice, let alone care about.

Still, wouldn't it be nice to have a wish granting purple alien wizard bestow upon him the power to conjure up Sam Carter at will?

Jack looked up.

"Anything I want, right?"

Jack was pretty sure the wizard just rolled his eyes.

And then Jack was back in the cave with the rest of his team.

* * *

The first time it happened, Jack was in the office with a door plaque that proclaimed "Col. J. O’Neill"

The one he often denied having any knowledge of its existence. The door was carefully locked. Jack was practicing his lines for an upcoming mission. 

Negotiations were not his strongest suit, which obviously is why they kept Daniel around.

However, this wasn’t an assignment for Daniel to tackle. For one, the archaeologist was lying in the infirmary recovering from an emergency appendectomy, and two, the stakes were way too high for this mission, he trusted no one.

The mission: Ask Carter to go fishing.

With his most winning smile in place, the one Sarah used to scowl when he would accidentally offer another woman, sometimes even accusing him of being a flirt.

“Carter, wanna go fishing?” He spoke to the empty office.

No, he needed to make it sound more exciting. 

“Carter, what do you say to a couple of days in the serenity of Northern Minnesota?”

Nah, definitely still boring.

Carter liked fast bikes and explosives, he didn't want her to think his invitation was lame.

“You. Me. Cabin in the woods and some big honkin’ fish, what do you say?”

Nope, too suggestive. He didn’t want to freak her out.

After all they were just friends, right? 

Friends who accidentally touched hands occasionally, and sometimes shared long meaningful looks, and beaming smiles that made Jack’s stomach go all tingly. 

In a very manly way, of course.

“Carter, want to-”

Jack never got to finish his next line because suddenly the object of his dilemma materialized on the edge of his desk, right on top of his chair. His knees fell apart to accommodate her sudden arrival.

“Sir!” Carter shrieked and attempted to get away, blue eyes impossibly wide. Then her foot caught in the drawer unit, and she started to ungracefully topple to the floor.

Jack, the gentleman that he was, slid his arms around her, sliding Carter into his lap. Bare arms and soft pale skin under Jack’s calloused hands, she was dressed in a snug black regulation-adjacent tank top.

Jack tried not to ogle.

“What are you doing here, Carter?" He squeaked, noticing, for the first time, the goggles holding her hair back and the wielder she was clutching like a weapon, “and what the hell _were_ you doing?”

She's stopped trying to get off him. _Cool._ Jack relaxed back in his seat.

“I was getting ready to do a detailed analysis of the decay rate of naquadah within the reactor-” 

“Carter! No technobabble in my office, it scares away the cool vibe I try to foster in here.”

“Yes, sir.” She giggled. Jack grinned widely. 

Her face hovered so close. He was a breath away from leaning forward and touching his lips to hers...

_Oh Crap_.

Jack blinked and pulled away.

“So uh, Major, any logical explanation as to why exactly you teleported into my office?”

“Not really, sir.” Then she eyed him carefully, leaning away to get a better look at his face, “have you touched anything you shouldn’t have been touching, sir?”

He eyeballed her, glancing down at his hands, which cradled her forearms. 

She blushed and ducked her head. Damn, she was pretty.

“It doesn’t seem like we’re in any immediate danger, and no one else materialized here but me." Carter mused,"so, it’s possible that whatever technology is at work here, was created to trigger this single event.”

“Right.” Jack nodded... and then it hit him. 

Gene the purple Shaman of Bassenji!

It was months ago, Jack almost forgot it ever happened. Could his wish granting sorcery be the real deal? It’s not like they haven’t encountered weirder crap before. 

Jack decided to tread carefully, he couldn’t let the major find out about his less-than-pure heart desires.

“So, we don’t need to make a big deal out of this, right?” Jack watched her eyes narrow, “of course, unless something else happens that actually needs to be reported.” 

Carter bit her bottom lip contemplatively. Jack almost groaned.

“Yes, sir.” She slid carefully off his lap, and moved around the desk. 

Jack repressed the urge to pout. He stood and followed her to the door.

“I should get back to my lab. Those decay rate sensors are not going to recalibrate themselves” She grinned widely at her own joke.

Carter was lucky she was so damn adorable, because her jokes were really terrible.

“Hey Carter, do you fish?” He blurted out.

“I used to fish with my dad when we were stationed at Andrews. Why?”

“Wanna come fishing with me?” _Crap_. He panicked and went with the boring one!

She looked hesitantly between him and the desk chair, the one they were basically cuddling in mere minutes ago. Their very own crime scene.

“It’s probably not a good idea, sir.” She gave him a little shy smile. “I’ll see you later, colonel.”

She was gone. He stood in the middle of his suddenly too dark office.

Jack sighed. He knew it wasn’t gonna work.

Not only was Carter way out of his league, she was also incredibly focused on her career, her projects, and her commitment to the Air Force. She wouldn’t just skip town to spend a vacation at her commanding officer’s secluded cabin.

He respected her decision, really, and yet.. the rejection stung a little. Jack growled aloud.

“Damn you Gene!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second time it happened, Jack was in his living room.

The second time it happened, Jack was in his living room. 

The clock approached midnight, he yawned and weighed his options; Climbing up the stairs to his bedroom vs. passing out right there on the couch.

He picked up the remote to turn the TV off, when suddenly he had an armful of Carter.

She blinked up sleepily at him, still in uniform, Olive green BDU bottoms and that absurdly hot black tank-top.

His heart lurched when rather than pulling away in panic, like last time, she burrowed deeper into his embrace instead.

But then she sighed against his chest.

“Jonah.”

He could only hope that she didn’t feel his entire body recoil.

It had only been three days since their return from the godforsaken ice planet, and less than 12 hours since their subsequent release from the infirmary.

Carter lifted her head slowly and looked at him. The confused look from earlier was replaced with one of pure misery.

“Sorry.”

She slipped off his lap, and sidled away from him to the opposite end of the couch.

“You didn’t go home.” It wasn’t a question.

“Too quiet.” She didn’t meet his eyes.

They were made to believe, among other things, that they were used to living in barracks, surrounded by other workers every moment of the day. 

Except for the stolen moments when the two of them would slip away, after the end of their shifts, to find solitude behind one of the broken boilers, hidden from prying eyes.

Jack sprang to his feet.

“Is there anything urgent in your lab that may explode or grow life forms if left unattended?”

“No, sir.” 

There it was. _Sir_. More effective than a slap to the face. 

“Then you should get some sleep. I’ll drive you home in the morning.”

He was almost to the door when her next words halted his progress.

“Sir, why do I get the feeling that you have a justification for this teleportation thing?”

“I will explain everything in the morning.” Jack winced.

The Carter from before P3R-118 would have argued, gotten in his face and demanded immediate answers. 

This Carter, however, nodded wearily, readily accepting defeat. 

It scared the crap out of him.

“I’ll get you a blanket and something to sleep in.”

* * *

Jack made it downstairs the next morning, after a restless night of fighting the voices telling him to go back down to the living room. To Carter. 

She was perched on the edge of the couch, looking pale and uncomfortable. She jumped to her feet and started apologizing the moment she caught sight of him.

“Sir, I was going to get out of your hair as soon as it was light outside,” she began.

“Carter, you don’t-”

“But I didn’t have my phone to call for a cab, or any money.” She grimaced, “or my house keys, for that matter.”

Jack eyed her dejectedly. 

“Let’s get some breakfast, then I will take you home.” 

* * *

They ended up at a diner near his house, eating waffles and drinking coffee, with Carter dressed in her BDU bottoms and his Woodstock sweatshirt.

She was looking less frazzled than she did this morning. She definitely looked less miserable than last night.

She looked beautiful in a serene kind of way.

The experience was utterly surreal, almost too good to be true. _Almost_.

“So, you asked this purple shaman to... Summon me?”

Carter squinted, trying to wrap her head around the unlikely tale he’d just divulged. One in which she ended up involved in some universal pissing contest between two alien brothers.

“I wanted you to see his cool headpiece. It was very.. Lively.” Jack gesticulated.

“Right.” 

She rolled her eyes and gave him her best _‘sticking a fork in a superior officer’s neck is frowned upon so I have to exercise self-restraint.’_ look.

“I never thought he’d actually have the power to do it.”

Carter stabbed at her food, before glancing at him from beneath her lashes.

“But P3X-608 was way before.. You know.” She mumbled.

Oh hell, he knew.

There wasn’t a day that he didn’t think about that particular _before_.

For Jack, his days consisted of _before and after._

_Before_ he learned, under the threat of death, that his yearning wasn't exactly one sided. His feelings weren’t in fact unrequited.

_After_ Jack knew for a fact that he was not a fool for hoping that Carter would ever feel the same way about him. _Him_ , of all people. 

“I’ve wanted to hang out with you for way longer than that, Carter.” He answered, simply and sincerely.

She blushed and ducked her head, then went back to eating her breakfast.

A sense of peace enveloped him, giving Jack a contentment he hasn’t experienced in a long while.

Then his mouth started talking.

“Would you like to hang out with me today?”

* * *

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo wasn’t the most glamorous of parks.

It still was a nice place to be on this balmy Tuesday morning.

Truthfully, there was nowhere else Jack would rather be right now.

“Do you think the purple guy is Ancient?” Carter asked curiously. 

"Dunno. Maybe." Jack watched, fascinated, as a couple of monkeys threw feces at one another. One of them appeared particularly angry, gesturing wildly with the clump of poo he clutched.

Jack leaned closer, whispering conspiratorially in her ear.

“Does he remind you of Daniel?”

Carter giggled. Jack gave her a lopsided grin.

The other monkey paused and gave the angry one a look that Jack interpreted as sarcastic.

“This guy also reminds me of someone.” Carter pointed out with a smirk.

_ Huh _ . Jack had no idea who she meant.

* * *

By noon they’ve visited most of the enclosures. 

Carter spent entirely too long admiring the Rocky Mountain Wild exhibition. 

For someone who trekked across the galaxy on a weekly basis, witnessing things that very few humans got to experience, she was way too fascinated by a bunch of otters.

“They hold hands while they sleep, sir.” She gestured, as if this somehow explained everything. 

Jack found it adorable.

The next display wasn't his favorite. Jack was itching to check out the Mexican wolves. 

Wolves were basically fraudulent dogs. In a reverse evolutionary kind of way.

But Carter wanted to see some birds first.

So, naturally they went to see some birds first. 

A voice in his head, which sounded suspiciously familiar, informed him that he was completely whipped. Jack told the voice to shut up,  _ Daniel _ . 

They listened to the keeper enthuse over his geese.

"They mate for life. Once they choose a partner, geese stay together forever."

Jack’s eyes unintentionally flew to Carter’s face, his hand moving of its own volition to capture hers.

But he chickened out at the very last moment.

One monogamous goose tilted its head and gave him a knowing smirk.

_Oh shut up._ Jack scowled.

How dare this stupid feathered rat judge him when it didn’t have regulations dictating every aspect of its life.

The display ended and people were moving on to other locations, when he felt Carter's hand slip into his own.

Jack tried to calm down his sudden racing heart.

He decided that maybe otters were onto something after all.

* * *

Lunch was hours ago. Burgers and fries from some open air joint where the staff dressed in hippo costumes.

Jack was slightly disturbed.

They walked around the park leisurely, holding hands, and debating where to go next.

They both agreed that an overpriced chairlift sky ride was a ridiculous idea.

Neither of them wanted to feed the chickens either, which left them with nothing else to do.

Jack drew the line at the snake exhibition. 

"We get enough of those at work."

Carter pouted, but never untangled her fingers from his. _Sweet_.

Jack suggested they get some soft pretzels from a nearby cart.

He was paying for the snack when a little boy with red curls and a Yankees jersey, of all things, stared at Carter. Jack glared discreetly.

She smiled sweetly and waved at the boy. Jack hated him already.

The boy approached her.

"Is that your dad buying you a pretzel?" 

_ Son of a- _

"No. He's my friend." Carter’s face split into a huge grin, barely containing her mirth.

"Best friend?" 

"Absolutely. In the whole wide world." 

Had his knees been somewhat younger, Jack was sure he would have been skipping all the way back to the parking lot. 

* * *

Jack glimpsed her wistful expression as they pulled away from the zoo.

“We could always come back in September.” He suggested.

“What’s in September?”

“Military appreciation week. We could feed the giraffes for free.”

Her mouth twitched in a small smile.

Suddenly he was back on P3R-118. Comforting a distressed Thera.

Oh God, Thera.

The woman who’d rested her head on his shoulder, and looked up at him with open affection. The woman he’d recognized when he didn’t even recall who he was. 

Throughout the entire day he hadn’t thought about her. Not even once.

All of his senses were occupied by Sam Carter.

Jack didn’t get the chance to allow his despair to take hold, nor to remember that he wasn’t permitted to be ‘feeling feelings’ for either woman.

The sky has darkened by the time they finally pulled over in her driveway.

They sat in mutual silence for a long moment, unwilling to break the contact between their intertwined hands.

“I miss him, so much.” Carter stared ahead.

_ Jonah _ .

“He misses you too, a lot more than he’s supposed to.”

It was late, and he was suddenly too damn tired, feeling raw, unable to censor his words.

Her blue eyes gazed up at him, glistening in the darkness of the car.

He wanted her so much.

“This is unfair.”

“Carter-”

“Please..” Her face was suddenly close, breathing his air. “Don’t you want to come inside?”

“You have no idea how much I do.”

“But you won’t.”

He grimaced and avoided her eyes.

“Thank you for today, sir.” 

She slipped out of the car in silence, hiding her face, and her emotions, from his desperate searching eyes.

Jack couldn’t let her leave like this.

“Carter.” He called after her.

She turned and looked at him wearily.

“One day. I will.”

She nodded, and gave him a little melancholy smile.

“Drive safely, sir.”

Jack watched until she was safely inside, before driving away.

Gripping the steering wheel with white knuckled hands, he growled into the silence of the evening.

“Damn you, Gene!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the wonderful and super kind Lena for the beta. Please read her work published here under: starrybouquet Which is all shippy, angsty, and wonderful.


End file.
